1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to radio communications, and relates more particularly to software defined radios, and more specifically to an interval timer for software defined radios which vary their waveform on a packet-by-packet basis.
2. Description of Related Art
The functions of the majority of the conventional radios available in the marketplace today are hardware dependent. Often times these radios cannot be reconfigured, adjusted, or fine-tuned.
The constraint being that once such a radio is delivered to the end-user, the radio's functionality has already been locked in and predetermined. Once a hardware based radio system such as this is deployed, it can be very difficult to enhance, modify, or upgrade the technology.
Hence, software defined radios address the need for flexibility. Additionally, some of the software defined radios have capability to operate in the Networks based on Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) protocols. Moreover, some of TDMA Networks require the RF packets structure to vary on a packet-by-packet basis.
Such variations include, but are not limited to, the modulation types used within each RF packet and data rates of each packet.
The TDMA system, usually, consists of a Master radio and the Remote units. The Remote units are expected to synchronize their TDMA Slot boundaries to the Master's timing. With waveform variations from packet-to-packet, Slot boundary adjustments become computationally expensive task that requires precise interval timer apparatus.
The proposed invention allows for a simple solution to the problem of generating precise time intervals for SDR (Software Defined Radios) operating in TDMA system(s) if the system's Slots vary in duration and the RF packets structure changes on packet-by-packet basis.